Ten Facts in the Case of Siofran Breckenridge
by brightlady-lise
Summary: A brief look at one of the many who fought in the War of the Ring.


_No. 1_

Siofran was born on a sunny Thursday in August (the perfect day for picnicking) to Primrose Breckenridge and Daerdan son of Daemirdan. She was the second child and oldest daughter in what would evolve into a family of six children. Her grandmother and other assorted relations remembered the old saw, "Thursday's child has far to go." They weren't wrong.

_No. 2_

Her parents never sugar-coated anything. In their practical minds, it was no use hiding things like death from their children. They didn't need to undergo the pain of having that illusion shattered. Instead, they were taught to cherish all things before they met their natural ends.

_No. 3_

Every summer, Daerdan took his children out into the wilds with him. He taught them to hunt, fight, track, and which plants were good to eat. He also told them stories about the kingdoms and great cities lying almost untouched in the wild. The words Arnor, Arthedain, Caradolan, and Rhudar tasted almost like candy in Siofran's mouth. Her family can trace itself back to an Arnorian noble and even further back to a family on the Southern half of Numenor. The Breckenridge side of the family only has records going back six generations. Everything earlier was forgotten or lost when the town hall burned down over a decade before she was born.

_No. 4_

Primrose sent all her children to school. If they couldn't rely on the Breckenridges' now sullied name and met scorn for their Ranger blood; they might as well distinguish themselves with their minds. Siofran developed an obsession with history, language, and art. Daerdan taught her Sindarin and Adunaic. He also brought her books out of the libraries in Esteldin and the Angle. She taught herself to read Quenya before her 18th birthday and doodled in the margins of what books she had. Her most prized possession is the sketchbook her mother buys her once a year for Mid-Winter.

_No. 5_

She dreamed about flying to all those places in her books and perhaps even farther out, to the moon and the stars. She followed her father and older brother into the wild as a Ranger. Life on the road is hard, but there are nights when the moon and stars are so bright she thinks she could put out her hand and touch them.

_No. 6_

She learned quickly that the world outside of Bree was not a safe or peaceful one. The Dunedain fight and die so people can curse their names and glare suspiciously at them as they ride through town. Sometimes she misses the days when she had their trust; then she remembers all the glories of Arnor and how someday her Chieftain is going to restore them all. Daerdan taught her that the best deeds are done for the love of one's fellow beings, not for glory. (She's still proud of being a Breelander. They were there long before the Dunedain came out of the West and will still be there long after Numenor is forgotten. There is no shame in being an ordinary person with small worries. She'll fight and die so some farmer can have the peace of mind to call other places strange and dangerous.)

_No. 7_

She makes a point of coming home to her mother every few months, especially for Midwinter. If there's anything Breelanders understand better than Dunedain, it's the importance of having all of your family together in one space.

_No. 8_

When the War of the Ring comes, her father is too busy fighting the Angmarim invasion of Annuminas to heed his Chieftain's call and go south with the Grey Company. He sends Siofran and her older brother instead.

_No. 9_

Siofran fell in love in Rohan. She never tells her family who it was, only that he was a soldier died in battle at the Fords of the Isen.

_No. 10_

She wrote an account of her part in the War of the Ring after returning to Breeland. It felt like a catharsis, an exorcism of old ghosts and old nightmares. She sleeps a little sounder and smiles a little more. Her words can recall the past and bring the dead to life again. The world is at peace. What more could one ask for?


End file.
